Wolf Reintroduction

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Transcript of Wolf Reintroduction

Conflicting Narratives of Wolf Reintroduction Wayland Tan, Ryan McQueen, John Zatkowsky, Andrew Gust Winners and Losers (Conclusion)? Controversies Attitudes Ecology of Stability'Missing piece of Yellowstone ecosystem'However, large amount of variabilityRobbins- Limits of Land Degradation Scale and Baseline?Ecological Resilience (Peterson, 2000)"Wolf Recovery, Political Ecology, and Endangered Species" by Charles E. Kay (1996)ToxonomyLumpers and SplittersSubspecies- the right wolves? C. l. irremotus vs. C. l. occidentalisProduct of a Social Construct?Something else that needs to be/will be unlearned in the future? Wolf REintroduction into the Northern Rockies Gray wolves are put under the protection of the Endangered Species Act in the lower 48 states. Plans to reintroduce the species into the Northern Rocky Mountains (NRM) start. 1973 1991 U.S. Fish and Wildlife develop a revised and more specific recovery plan.Promotion of natural wolf recovery in northwest MontanaReintroduction of Wolves in Yellowstone (YNP)Reintroduction of wolves into central Idaho if two breeding pairs are not naturally established by 1992 Congress orders an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to be done on wolf reintroduction into YNP and Idaho.During which 130 Public meetings are held and 170,000 comments are received. EIS completed. Secretary of the Interior Bruce E. Babbit approves reintroduction. Several groups filed suit in Federal District Court in Wyoming, in attempt to halt reintroduction. U.S. District Judge William F. Downs denies motion. 1994 The wolf population in the NRM occupied nearly all suitable habitats in the NRM area. Hitting approximately 1,645 wolves In 217 packs, 95 of which were breeding pairs.These numbers exceeded the goal of the reintroduction. 2008 Entire wolf population of the NRM is delisted from the ESA and put under management of all states (WY, ID,MT, OR, WA).2012, first year wolves can be hunted. 2011 1987 1997-2001 66 Wolves captured in Canada. 35 wolves are released immediately upon arrival in Idaho. 31 wolves are held in acclimation pens in YNP for a few months, then released. The progress of the program in its first year far exceeds expectations. 2010 In response to the 2010 ruling, Congress orders Secretary of interior to reissue the 2009 ruling without regard to the ESA and without judicial review. Fish and Wildlife complies. 2012-Present 2009 1995 Federal District Court in Wyoming held that reintroduction had been improper under the ESA and declared that the wolves be removed from YNP and Idaho pending review from the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Circuit Court found reintroduction was proper and allowed the wolves to remain. Fish and Wildlife upon review rules to remove the NRM wolf population from the ESA's protection, except for wolves in Wyoming.

Under State management and regulation wolves can be hunted in in Idaho and Montana.

Several lawsuits were filed challenging the rule, but regulated hunting was allowed to continue. The Fish and Wildlife ruling in 2009 was found to violate the ESA.Protection of the NRM wolves under the ESA is reestablished in Montana and Idaho. Loser: Ranchers Ranchers lose livestock to wolf predationAnd have to spend money to hire people and train dogs to protect their animals. Winner: Environmentalist Wolves bring a great intrinsic value to nature lovers.Wolves reintroduction is seen as bringing the wilderness back to the natural state. loser: Hunters/Guides Hunters compete for the same prey as wolves.Guides depend on hunting for a livelihoodThey complain since the wolves are back the amount of prey is down.No sufficient evidence supports this. Winner: Local businesses People come from all over the world to see Yellowstone.Wolves add a whole new level to an already thriving tourist business.Wolf watching generates more than $35 million a year for motels, restaurants and other businesses in the three states surrounding the park, according to park surveys. Loser: Taxpayers Wolf management costs the government a lot.Taxpayers have to pay all the processes that are involved including observing the wolves, hunting misbehaving wolves, compensating ranchers, legal costs... etc In 2009 Kim Baker a Montana Ranchersays she lost around 42,000 dollars due to wolf activites. Ranchers get compensated for loses but usually only around 10%. “Sometimes it gets pretty doggone depressing. If you could see what the wolves leave…We don’t raise our cattle to be tortured.”-Kim Baker "I'm prepared to bid for the first ticket [hunting license] to shoot a wolf myself." Gov. Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming "We covet what we've lost, and when you go out and see wolves free in nature, it's real.... Most people are so many levels removed from wild nature that seeing wolves establishes a very powerful link."Douglas W. Smith, Yellowstone biologist "The restoration of the wolf to the greater Yellowstone region has been a boon to all regional tourism operators and peripheral businesses. " Ken Sinay, director of the Yellowstone Safari Company The total cost for the restoration, management, recovery, and delisting of wolves between 1973 and late 2004 should be about $18,000,000.”—Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery 2002 Annual Report "Narrative inquiry rests on the epistemological assumption that we as human beings make sense of random experience by the imposition of story structures.” Jill Sinclair Bell, Narrative Inquiry: More Than Just Telling Stories. TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 2. (Summer, 2002), pp. 207-213.There is no such thing as “just a story”. Stories are massively important for how we interact with the world around us. We are influenced by very old stories: the hegemonic narrative about wolf reintroduction in North America is by no means the only narrative, and it is both very new, and simultaneously very old in terms of human wolf interactions. Take Away Points “The Lost Wolves of Japan” by Brett L. Walker: Wolf worship was common with ancient grain farmers, who left offerings to the wolves at dens, asking the wolves to protect their crops. The Ainu people (indigenous to Japan) believed that they were born from a Goddess and a Wolf.The foundation of Rome: Romulus and Remus, the wolf children.

Walker, Brett L. (2005). The Lost Wolves Of Japan. p. 331. ISBN 0-295-98492-9. Other Wolf Stories: Remember, environmentally determinist explanations often feign an apolitical approach. Be Careful!Would be too simplistic (and innately colonial) to say, “agricultural peoples hated wolves, nomadic/hunting peoples emulated them, pastoral/herding peoples feared them”We can see populations relationships to the land, agriculture, wolves, and other animals as a shifting dialectic with innumerable factors…Example… Avoiding Environmental Determinism in Finding Narrative Context Arctic/Plains: Reverence, emulation, fear: Pawnee, both agricultural and nomadic, tell story of the wolf as the first creature to experience death. Tanaina of Alaska believe the wolves were once men and view them as brothers

. Lopez, Barry (1978). Of wolves and men. ISBN 0-7432-4936-4. Indigenous North American Wolf Stories (Bible) Acts: 28: “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock” (New International Verse 2011, www.biblehub.com)

(Qur’an) 12.13. He (Jacob) said: "Indeed, it grieves me that you should take him with you, and I fear lest a wolf should devour him while you are inattentive of him. (The Holy Qu’ran, www.mqu’ran.org " Abrahamic Tradition Hegemony has history; hegemonic narrative (i.e., wolf debate in North America is “ranchers vs. enviros” is not the first, nor the last dominant narrative. And it is certainly not the only story that is told.

What do we associate with wolves: well, nobility, insanity, viciousness, solitariness (lone wolf), pack animal (lotawolves), hunger, hunter, power, debate, danger, extinction, reintroduction, livestock, beta, alpha, etc… that scene where the wolves chase the person, femininity (she wolf), masculinity (wolf man!)… associations are as numerous as stories… (VERY NUMEROUS). On With The Show Fin Part One Mosaic in Denmark tells a little tale about Christian / Wolf dialectic, or, how Jesus was also Chuck Norris…

“Walk through the woods alone or through any party in this sexy white wolf costume…” The Different Stories We Tell About Animals Are Very Old And Very New… Photo: www.wondercostumes .com Wolf Stories, Mythos, Folklore:The Context of Narrative:Or, How No Narrative Exists in a Vacuum… Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Casco_y_collera_de_lobo_tlingit_(M._América,_Madrid)_01.jpg For hunting people the world over, from the steppes of Eurasia to the Arctic and Pacific Northwest Coast, the wolf is an extremely important symbol of skill, prowess, origins... Tlingit helmet and collar representing a wolf Colonization and Wolf Removal Attitudes Associated with Wolf Reintroduction Ideas of danger associated with attitudes towards wolves

Negative attitudes associate wolves as more dangerous than positive attitudes. First Bounty: Penny Per Wolf (1600s Massachusetts)Dialectic:1800sDomestication of Animals on the frontierBuffalo hunters, cattlemen, and Wolfers Strychnine Poisoning Topic now vastly different than at time of removal! Associated with Different Attitudes... Narrative itself is dialectic Gender, Urban/Rural, Education, Hunting History Positive Attitudes Negative Attitudes Social Constructions of Danger and Safety Social Construction of Danger Perceptions of Danger are "products of social construction, collective agreement, and socialization" (Simpson, 550)Safety and Danger not observable, not Animals thought of as having objective qualities of danger and safety Monty Python and Jaws DangerousWill lower Deer and Elk PopulationsWill disturb livestock Keep prey populations in checkReturn of environment to what "once was"Preservation of endangered species Significant Variables Gender Goal: Kill Wolves at all costs. Importance of Scale Ranchers, Environmentalists, Hunters, Naturalist Groups, etc. Pate et al, 1996 and Lohr, Ballard and Bath, 1996 "Alibis for aggression in the name of progress" "Whoever shall shoot off a gun on any unnecessary occasion, or at any game except an Indian or a wolf, shall forfeit 5 shillings for every shot" - Massachusetts Law 1638 Masculinity: Emel, 1995 "no animal stood less in awe of man than the wolf" (Thompkins, 1992)